


Popcorn Prompt

by stayfierce



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Watcher Entertainment RPF
Genre: M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:54:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26394481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stayfierce/pseuds/stayfierce
Summary: Tumblr prompt from daizyredz"Shane works at a cinema at the concession stand. Ryan comes in almost every day to see a movie, sometimes the same movie over and over again. Shane thinks Ryan just really likes movies, but in reality Ryan has a huge crush on Shane and he’s the reason Ryan is spending all of his money on going to the movies to the point that it’s concerning his friends."
Relationships: Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej
Comments: 6
Kudos: 34





	Popcorn Prompt

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [shyan prompt](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/681427) by https://daizyredz.tumblr.com/. 



> Tumblr prompt from daizyredz  
> "Shane works at a cinema at the concession stand. Ryan comes in almost every day to see a movie, sometimes the same movie over and over again. Shane thinks Ryan just really likes movies, but in reality Ryan has a huge crush on Shane and he’s the reason Ryan is spending all of his money on going to the movies to the point that it’s concerning his friends." 
> 
> Link to daizyredz Tumblr-https://daizyredz.tumblr.com/

Ryan had arrived late to meet his friends at the Downtown Independent Cinema.  
He had entered the Eighties style theatre sheepishly. Having been caught in a rare Los Angeles storm, he had the appearance of a man who had survived drowning at sea. Ryan had pushed his way through the fogged glass doors into the pristine faux vintage lobby where he was greeted by a rush of warmth, the smell of hot popcorn and the immediate anxiety of being out of a place in a building which was much posher than you had expected. It was one of the few local cinemas he hadn't visited before, and looking at the mixture of slasher movie posters in golden frames and ArtDecor stained glass windows, that Ryan thought looked as if the designer of a Church’s window had been slipped LSD, it was one he wouldn't visit again. It’s clean white sofas and glass tables matched the people standing in the lobby, dressed as if they had gotten lost on their way to a five-star restaurant. The whole building had been decorated in a way that would allow for it to be the set for a scene in a number of historical films, and Ryan made a mental note to google the building later to see if he was right. 

According to the only non-horror movie poster they also held ‘Classical Music Mondays’. Which Ryan thought was fairly pretentious but it now made sense why everyone was dressed as if they were going to a gala that Bruce Wayne was throwing. Ryan watched, helplessly as water dripped off his body onto the red carpet, which created dark spots as if he was a victim of a slasher film himself. Not only was he watering the carpet, he had also tracked mud into it. He was surprised he hadn't already been asked to leave. He could make a dash for the bathroom? And try to make use of hand-dryers? but then that plan was quickly dismissed when he realised all they had to do was follow the track of muddy footsteps. He wasn't exactly inconspicuous being completely drenched and covered in mud due to a partially mean-spirited truck driver who had deliberately driven through a pothole turned lake and showered him in cold, dirty water and had then celebrated this by gleefully beeping at Ryan as he drove away. 

A few people sat, hesitating picking at their boxes of popcorn, clearly trying to stop themselves from indulging too much before they sat down to watch the film...or perhaps a violin soloist. They kept glancing over at Ryan. Which is fair, Ryan thought, he did look like he had just walked out of the ocean. The rain battered against the door next to him as if he needed a reminder of how awful the fall weather was and that it was awaiting his return because surely he was going to be ushered out by an employee.

If he called an Uber to take him home, would they even let him inside? Ryan’s Jordans were completely waterlogged and his shirt, which was white, because of course today of all days had to be a white shirt day, had fused to his skin along with his denim jacket and jeans. His hair was also dripping water into his eyes and he had to keep pushing it away from his forehead. He pulled out his phone and tried to dry it by whipping at it with his hands, which did nothing but smudge water across the screen. It was hard to focus on his phone as a middle-aged woman, with the blondest hair he had ever seen kept looking over at him in disgust as if he had chosen to be caught in a storm. Her eyes were bearing into him and he could feel his face and neck get warm despite his cold clothing sticking to him. She muttered something to her boyfriend and with a hair flip, sulked off in the direction of the concession stand. Ryan’s heart sank, he knew the look of a white woman about to complain well enough to know that she was getting an employee to come over to chuck him out. 

He breathed in the warmth of the cinema, the smell of hot food and unhappily pulled up the Uber app on his phone. Ignoring the texts of ‘Where are you? The film is starting!’, he then quickly stopped himself from ordering one, and googled ‘can you get in an uber wet?’. He was quickly informed that yes, he can, but with a cleaning fee that can range up to one hundred dollars. Not really something a broke Buzzfeed intern can afford. Ryan decided that catching pneumonia was a better option and started to build up his courage to step back out into the rain. He turned to look outside, peering through the glass doors and-Had it...Had it gotten worse in the last five minutes? The wind had picked up, rattling the door and he could see, while blurred a little by the steamed glass, a woman chasing down her umbrella as it flew down the street as if the spirit of Usain Bolt had processed it. He fumbled for the movie ticket as if he could somehow use it as a bargaining chip as a way to stay in the cinema a little longer, it was soggy, blurred and melting in his fingers. 

“Are you okay?” A deep voice asked, making Ryan jump. His head snapped upright as his heart had a boxing match with his rib cage. He was first greeted by a uniformed chest with the name ‘Shane’ embodied on it and then he tilted his head upwards to see a guy with a thin face staring down at him.

“Oh. Hi. I was supposed to see ‘Don’t look in the mirror’ with some friends, but I got caught in the rain, I-er, well they..and I..was late because of the storm..oh and, I’m sorry for the water and the mud, I didn’t mean to-But- I’ll go, I was just, I-It’s so cold..so I wanted to try and dry off-Sorry..” Ryan said incoherently, helpless holding out the deteriorating ticket towards the man. 

The man looked down at the ticket then back at Ryan and then back at the damp ticket, he reached out and took the ticket as if he was unsure of what else to do with it. 

“Do you still want to see ‘Don’t look in the mirror’?’ He asked Ryan, holding the wet paper between his fingers. They both were aware that the movie was closer to the end than the start and Ryan going in now would be pointless. 

“No,” Ryan said, “I just wanted to get out of the rain’

“That’s fair,” He said, looking out into the street, Ryan looked outside as well. The woman he had seen before had caught her umbrella but it had been blown inside out and the rain was still heavy and unusually cruel for the desert city. 

“Yikes.” The employee said he looked down at Ryan, leaving Ryan to be even more self-conscious. He then added, “I could probably find you a towel or something but you need to get out of the entrance.” 

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t want to get mud everywhere’ Ryan said, lamely.

The man smiled down at him, “Nah, don’t worry about it, they deep clean it every Sunday, but you should probably follow me somewhere out of the way”  
Ryan followed him, leaving a trail of dirty footsteps behind him.

“You can sit here,” The man said, or ‘Shane’ said, Ryan noted the name from his work uniform. Shane pointed out a black sofa in the corner of the room across from the concession stand and Ryan quickly walked over and sat down, creating a wet squelching sound. Heat filled his cheeks for the second time in five minutes.

“Sorry,” Ryan said. 

“I’ll go find you a towel,” Shane said, disappearing between two bright yellow doors with small round windows into a back room. The smell of popcorn was beginning to affect Ryan, making his stomach rumble and Ryan prayed it would stop before Shane got back, he was already mortified.  
Shane reappeared with a white towel and handed it to Ryan who gratefully took it.

“Can I get you anything?” Shane asked. 

“Could I get a coffee?” Ryan asked, his stomach rumbled again, loudly. His face flushed a deeper red and an already humiliated Ryan added ‘and maybe some popcorn?’ in a small, miserable voice. 

“Sure,” Shane said as if this was a perfectly normal situation. He took his place back at the kiosk. Ryan watched the tall, slender man place a paper cup under the coffee machine and scoop up some popcorn, seemingly unfazed by the waterlogged man drying his hair with a towel underneath a horror movie poster of a woman screaming with blood artfully splattered across her face. The uniform Shane wore, was like a costume of a movie theatre worker with a white shirt, red vest and matching bow tie. Ryan shrugged off his jacket and tried not to feel too embarrassed pressing the towel to his t-shirt which was clinging to his chest. He rubbed at it with the towel, hoping to dry it so it sits a little less skin tight. 

“I’m Ryan, by the way,” Ryan said, attempting a nonchalant tone as he dried himself. 

“I’m Shane,” the tall man said over the counter.

“Thanks for not kicking me out, Shane” Ryan said, using the towel to dry his hair. 

“It’s fine.” Shane said, “I think sending you back out into a storm would have been a bit shitty”

Ryan smiles, “And thank you for the towel” he added. 

“It’s nothing, really,” Shane insisted while carrying a small box of popcorn and coffee on a plastic tray over to him. He placed it on the glass table next to Ryan and then stood for a moment peering down at Ryan, who stopped rubbing the towel against his hair for a moment and looked up at him. Ryan found himself looking directly into his eyes, which were, he decided, a nice, friendly-looking brown, and then thought, what the fuck am I on about before his own eyes took note of the man's lips and then he just as quickly, looked away. 

“What should I do with the towel?” Ryan asked as he ran a hand through his hair, it felt dry enough for him to stop towel drying it. And the towel was too wet to dry anything else anyway.

“I can take it,” Shane said.

“Oh, um, here,” Ryan said and handed it to him clumsily. 

“Did you want any milk or sugar?” Shane asked, holding the wet towel. 

“No, this is fine, thank you, this is great,” Ryan said as he reached for the coffee and sighed in relief as he curled his fingers around the paper cup, letting the heat sink into his fingers. 

“Okay,” Shane said, “And if you want any hot butter, help yourself to the pump” 

“I definitely will,” Ryan said, “this will be more butter than popcorn by the time I’m done”.  
Ryan instantly felt embarrassed at his attempt to be funny when Shane didn't laugh. However, Shane smiled, which reached his eyes. Ryan forced himself to look away, he really was staring too much. 

“How much do I owe you?” Ryan asked, taking a sip of the hot coffee, it burnt his lips but not wanting to embarrass himself further he forced himself to swallow the hot coffee, which then burnt his throat and sent him into a coughing fit.  
He looked up at Shane after he finished with streaming eyes and the man had the nerve to look amused by Ryan. As if Ryan’s ego needed to be deflated further.

“Nah, don’t worry about it, man. It’s on the house.” Shane shrugged, “you look like you need something hot” 

“Thanks,” Ryan said, holding onto the coffee but not taking another sip.

“Are you a big horror head then?” Shane asked 

“Me?” Ryan said, surprised Shane wanted to have a conversation with him.

“No, I was asking the other soaking wet guy drinking overpriced coffee”

Ryan laughed, “I guess”. He took a daring sip of the coffee and was relieved to find it at a drinkable temperature. It was slightly too bitter and Ryan would have liked some sugar but he wasn't going to ask for any. 

“I’m happy to watch anything, really”, Ryan lied, not wanting to reveal that he secretly hated horror films. 

“Same” Shane said, “usually after a shift, I’ll watch whatever in whichever theatre has the most empty seats”

“Do you get to watch films for free?” Ryan asked

“Yeah, pretty much,” Shane said

“So, have you watched ‘Don’t look in the mirror’? Am I missing out?’ Ryan asked

“Nah, It’s rubbish, you're not missing out if anything you were lucky to miss it,” Shane said.

“Oh?” Ryan asked, in between bites of popcorn.

“Not scary at all,” Shane said, “and mildly racist” 

“Really? Has it got the old first person to die a minority cliche?” Ryan query’s

“Yup,” Shane said, dragging out the p, “It starts with a pretty diverse cast and then they kill every non-white character within the first twenty minutes and their friends never mention them again”

“Oh, man. Another reason not to watch horror films.” Ryan said

“What are the other reasons?” Shane asked

“They suck,” Ryan said with a shrug. 

Shane laughed and Ryan joined in before drinking the last of the coffee. 

“At least you know you're not missing out”

“Nah, it’s my mates that are missing out. I got free popcorn and good company”

Shane blushed which Ryan found delightful.

“You also had our crappy coffee so I wouldn't be too sure,” Shane said, rubbing his hand against his stubble which oddly made Ryan think of an ASMR video he had seen on Facebook of a man filming himself scratching his stubble. He had been surprised at the number of people commenting underneath it saying it was sexy, Ryan didn't understand the appeal of it until now.  
A man was approaching the kiosk and Shane suddenly looked guilty. 

“I should probably get back to work,” Shane said, Ryan noted he sounded a bit sad about it. Or maybe Ryan hoped he was sad about having to go. 

“Okay,” Ryan said, wishing he could keep the conversation going. You don’t want to be that guy, Ryan thought to himself, don’t be the guy who tries to flirt with employees while they work. 

“Thanks for the towel and food,” Ryan said while attempting his best flirty smile. Shane smiled back at him.

“No problem! Enjoy the movie,” Shane said, and then his cheeks flushed pink when Ryan let out a soft laugh. He felt bad about the laugh when Shane's smile dropped a little. 

“Sorry, a force of habit,” Shane said, before walking back to the concession stand. Ryan watched him go, tempted to tell the customer to piss off and ask Shane to join him for drinks or..something.  
Ryan watched Shane serve the man, Shane’s work smile was tighter than the one he had given Ryan. Which made him feel smugger than a drenched guy in the corner of a cinema should be allowed to feel. He pulled out his phone and texted an explanation to his friends and headed to the bathroom to use the hand dryer to dry off enough to have a few drinks with his friends.


End file.
